Assignment #15- Final Reflection

For your final blog post, I want you to look back at your first and seventh blog posts. In your first blog post, you outlined your goals for the semester, and in your seventh blog post, you discussed the progress you feel you had made on those goals.

As the semester comes to an end, reflect back on those goals; do you feel you have achieved what you wanted to achieve? Would you in anyway change those goals now that you are more familiar with college level writing? 

In addition to reflecting back on those goals, you also need to outline how you would like to continue to grow as a writer. What strengths would you like to continue to develop? What are your weaknesses that you know you still need to work on?

The content of this blog post is likely to overlap significantly with your final reflection essay, but that's fine. Think of this as a shorter, more informal version of your final reflection that will help you develop and refine your ideas.

Assignment #14- Planning for Revisions

This week you should choose which essay you would like to revise for your final portfolio, and for this blog post, you are going to describe your revision strategy for that essay with the goal of making more effective revisions through the use of careful planning. To begin this process, you should list 2-3 strengths of your essay and 2-3 weaknesses. Then you should briefly describe how specifically you plan to revise your essay based on those strengths and weaknesses. For example:

For my portfolio I chose to revise my ad analysis essay. The strengths of my ad analysis were that I effectively described the ad and clearly stated my thesis. The weaknesses were that my paper lacked focus and I did not support my claims with evidence from the ad. My conclusion also strayed off topic.

To effectively revise my essay, I am going to work on better focusing my paper around my thesis. As I go over each paragraph, I will ask myself how this paragraph relates to my main idea. If the relationship is unclear or illogical, then I know I need to revise that paragraph. In addition, I am going summarize each paragraph in a sentence, and then check to see if my paragraphs are ordered logically.

I also am going to interrogate each claim I made in my essay. I will ask myself what about the text led me to make this claim. If I have difficulty finding evidence from the ad to support my claim, then I know it is likely that that claim needs to be revised/deleted. After I have better supported my claims and organized/focused my thoughts, I am hoping it will be much easier to write an effective conclusion.

How to Write Argumentative Essays Videos

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE42C98564BC448F1

Assignment #13- Analyzing and Writing Arguments

For your third revised essay you analyzed an argument, and now, for your fourth essay, you are writing an argument of your own. For this blog post, you need to think critically about what you learned by analyzing another writer's argument that can be applied to your own argument.  I want you to identify at least three specific things you learned from analyzing an argument that you will use when writing your own argument. Briefly describe what specifically from the text led to your observation and how specifically you will use that information when writing your own argument. For example:

• I analyzed "Essay X." In that essay, the writer used an informal tone in an attempt to build a connection to the reader. However, that tone ultimately weakened her argument by making her seem less authoritative. This taught me how my choice of tone can affect how trustworthy I appear to readers, and I will be conscious of choosing an appropriate tone for my subject matter.

The purpose of this blog post is to get you to continue to think critically about effective arguments and also to help you draw connections between your assignments. In addition, it may be helpful to you to also read your peers' blogs to gain additional insight into what makes an argument effective.

Assignment #12- Thinking Critically About Evidence

In class on Wednesday we will be working in small groups to critically examine the evidence you developed to support your arguable thesis. For this blog post, I want you create a revised version of your evidence chart, complete with your thesis. Then you need to identify both the evidence that you find strongest and most compelling, and the evidence that you think is the weakest part of your argument. In addition, you need to briefly explain what makes that particular evidence strong or weak, and how you plan to address these issues in your argument. 

For example, say I was going argue the thesis we went over in class: "Most students would benefit from enrolling in college immediately after high school because doing so will better prepare students for educational and professional success."

After creating my chart, I might identify my most compelling evidence as my claim that enrolling immediately after high school makes students more likely to finish school because they are already acclimated to an educational environment and have not had time to forget the knowledge they acquired in high school, and thus are more likely to succeed in their classes. I also might identify my rebuttal to the counter-argument that school is too expensive to be the weakest part of my argument. My blog post would then be something along the lines of the following:

• My most compelling evidence is my claim that students who enroll in college immediately after high school are more likely to finish because they are accustomed to being in an academic environment and the knowledge they acquired in high school is still relatively fresh. This is strong evidence because it is logically sound, and it is something that my audience will be familiar with. Everyone has come back to school after having the summer off and struggled to sit through a lecture and remember the concepts they learned the year before. It is only logical that this problem would be exacerbated both by taking a break for a longer period of time and the added rigor of college coursework. Since this is my strongest claim, I am going to mention it at the beginning of my essay and continue to reiterate throughout my argument.

• My weakest evidence is my rebuttal to the claim that students cannot afford college immediately after high school. I argue that there is financial aid available and that college leads to higher lifetime earnings. This is my weakest evidence because it can be difficult for anyone, but particularly the young people who are my target audience, to make short-term sacrifices in exchange for long-term rewards. In addition, as my audience is likely well aware, a college degree is no longer a guarantee of financial success. To strengthen this part of my argument, I will be honest with my audience about the high costs of college and the uncertainty after graduation, but I will also emphasize that while the job search is difficult with a college degree, it is significantly worse without one. I will also tie back to my idea the longer students wait to go to school, the more difficult  it can be to finish, and add that given the high costs of college, it is unlikely that a person could save up enough money to cover all their expenses.

Assignment #11- Patterns of Error

Every writer has their own pattern of error, and one of the goals of Writing I is for students to be able to identify their own pattern so that they may more effectively correct and strengthen their writing. With that goal in mind, I want you to look at the first two graded essays you have done, as well as any other writing you have done (it doesn't necessarily have to be from this class) that you think may be significant for this exercise, and I want you to identify 3-4 errors that you think are part of your own pattern. To help identify your errors, you can look at my comments, your peers' comments, and carefully re-read your own work. 

Once you have identified your 3-4 errors, I also want you to briefly explain how you think that error affects your writing and how you plan to avoid/correct that error in future writing. For example, I would write:

• In my writing, I tend to be excessively wordy. In particular, I tend to use equivocations like "I believe..." or "In my opinion..." when they are not necessary. This causes my writing to lack assertiveness and ultimately obfuscates my point. I know it is difficult for me to avoid this phrases when I am writing, but I will be cognizant of them as I revise my drafts, and read my essay through several times just looking for this type of phrase. 

The purpose of this blog post is both for you personally to identify your own pattern of error and also to demonstrate a development of self-awareness about your own writing. To successfully achieve this purpose, make sure you write at least a short paragraph about each of the error patterns you have identified, and keep in mind that "I can't find three types of errors" is absolutely not an answer.

Extra Credit Blog Assignment

Since it is Spring Break, you have no required blog post this week. However, you can write a post about a topic of your choosing for up to ten points extra credit. To get all ten points, posts should be thoughtful, interesting, and at least 250 words. Have a good break!

Assignment #10- Thinking Critically About Peer Review

As you know, in this class we do many different forms of peer review, ranging from relatively informal discussions to the more structured reviews of each others' drafts.

For this blog post, I want you to reflect on the peer review process. This post has several parts. First, I want you to tell me how specifically you think the peer review we do in class is effective and how it can be improved. For the second part, I want you to describe what you think are your specific strengths and weaknesses as a peer reviewer (like always, "I have no strengths" is not considered an acceptable answer). And finally, I want you to describe your ideal peer review process. Do you find it helpful to do peer review for earlier stages of the writing process? Are smaller or larger groups more helpful? Do you feel you have an appropriate amount of time for peer review?

The purpose of this post is to think critically about yourself as a peer reviewer so that you may become a more effective reviewer of works by both yourself and others. In addition, I would like your honest feedback so I can best tailor peer review to suit the needs of the class.

Assignment #9- A Choice in Topics

I've gotten feedback from many of you that you would prefer to have more freedom in your blog posts. So for this week, you can write a post of at least 250 words about a topic of your choice. It may be related to writing, but if there is another topic that you would like to address on your blog, that is fine too.

If you are stuck for ideas, you may address some of the following:

• Of the three assignments we have worked on so far, which have you found the most difficult? The easiest? Why do you think that is so?
• What are your larger goals for your education and how does this class (or others) fit into those goals? 
• What have you enjoyed the most so far in your college experience? The least?

Again, you are not required to address any of these in your blog posts, but are free to do so if you cannot think of any other ideas.

Assignment #8- Thinking About Arguments

For this blog post, I want you to start thinking critically about your argument analysis assignment. This post has two requirements: you must summarize the argument you have chosen to analyze, and briefly reflect on why you have chosen to write about that particular argument. Your summary should be 200-300 words, and may be extremely similar to the summary that ends up in your paper. 

What you include in your reflection is up to you; I just want you to think critically about why you chose that article. Was it something that was particularly interesting to you? Did you think you would have an easier time writing about that particular article? Did you just choose the first one off the list because you didn't feel like reading any more? Whatever your reasons, I want you reflect on what caused you to select that argument and what that means for the writing of your essay. Your reflection should be 1-2 paragraphs, and while it will  not be identical to anything in your essay, it will help prepare you for your personal response.

NOTE ABOUT BLOGS: Friday, March 2 is the last day to complete any of your first eight blog entries. After that, I will calculating your final grades for the first half of your blog assignment. I will not offer any credit for the first eight blog entries after Friday. This way, you are not stuck writing 16 blog entries right before the end of the semester, and I am not stuck grading 16 blog entries right before the end of the semester. If you have any questions or technical difficulties, please come see me before March 2.

Assignment #7- Reflecting on Progress

As we near the midterm, I want you to reflect on Writing I so far. I want you to think critically both about how you personally have developed as a writer and what specifically about the class helped spur that development. Some things you may want to consider in your reflection include:

• Look back to your first blog post. Do you feel like you are making progress on your goals for the class? Why or why not? 
• Are there any specific aspects of the class that you feel like has been particularly helpful for you as a writer? Why or why not?
• Is there anything about the class that you would like changed in order to better facilitate your learning process?
• Has your writing process changed since the beginning of the semester? How specifically has it changed and why?
• Do you think your writing has improved since the semester started?

You may not address all these issues in your blog post, but just make sure your reflection is thorough, thoughtful, and at least 250-300 words.

 

While writing this post, keep in mind that learning to write is not a neatly linear process. It is possible that while you challenge yourself to leave your comfort zone as a writer, it is possible that you may struggle and your writing style may even regress. However, keep in mind that this does not mean that you haven't grown as a writer. 

The purpose of this post is twofold: I want you to think critically about your own progress as a writer, and I also want your honest feedback on the class. To accomplish these goals, it is important that you are as specific as possible and focus on being constructive and respectful. For example, rather than simply writing, "This is literally the best class I have ever taken" or "This class sucks and I hate it", write, "I find our peer review worksheets really helpful" or "I really wish Ms. Spencer would assign us more homework."

Assignment #6- Responding to Peers and Considering Rhetorical Situations

For this week your assignment has two parts. First, you are required to comment on one of your peers' blog posts from last week. To do so, simply go to a classmate's blog, and click on comments. In your comment, I want you to briefly describe at least one aspect of your peer's ad analysis that is particularly insightful or effective, and one aspect that is illogical, vague, or weak in any other way.
 
For example:
I think my peer does an excellent job explaining how specifically the scenery in this ad is meant to appeal to the audience. However, I think they need to expand their ideas and include who the target audience is, and what evidence from the ad makes that clear.

For your blog post itself, you need to compare and contrast the rhetorical situation of your ad analysis essay with that of your literacy narrative essay. Remember especially to consider purpose, audience, tone, and genre. Briefly discuss how the different rhetorical situation will affect the choices you make when writing your paper.

Assignment #5- Analyzing an Advertisement

For your second major writing assignment in this class, you will be analyzing an advertisement of your choice. For your fifth blog post, you will be preparing for that paper. Remember, an analysis requires you not just to summarize the text, but to make an argument about the deeper meaning using specific text-based evidence. To lay the groundwork for this assignment, I want you to choose the advertisement you want to write about and identify the specific rhetorical situation.

The ad you select can be pretty much any print ad (no commercials though), but make sure it is an ad that you feel you can discuss in a meaningful manner. For this blog post I want you to post the ad itself, and then, using text-based evidence, identify all of the following:

• Purpose- What is the purpose of the ad? What argument is it trying to make? How can you tell?
• Audience- Who is the target audience for this ad? Is it trying to appeal to people of a certain age, gender, ethnicity, etc.? Again, what from the text makes this clear?
• Genre- How would you describe the genre of the ad? How might it compare to other ads for similar products? Is it what you would expect for that type of ad or does it subvert audience expectations? 
• Tone- What is the tone of the ad? Why would the advertisers chose that tone for that particular product?

There certainly may be some overlap of these categories. For example, if you feel you have already discussed tone thoroughly while defining purpose and genre, you may not need to identify it separately, but it should be addressed at some point. 


For more information, see the example below.

Purpose: By using stark, bright, active imagery and minimal text, this ad is able to foreground its product and argue that iPods, like all Apple products, are hip, modern, and easy to use.
Audience: The silhouette of a woman in this ad is intentionally ambiguous so as to be appealing to a wide variety of audiences. Though the audience is unable to identify the woman's exact age or ethnicity, it's clear through the woman's carefree dancing, tousled hair, and loud jewelry that she is a self-assured, stylish individual.
Genre: This ad is one of the many similar ads that Apple produced for iPods. All the ads feature some sort of bright background with a black, dancing silhouette and a clearly displayed iPod. All these ads help advance the argument that iPods are fun and hip.
Tone: The bright pink background, minimal text, and dancing woman all create a fun, vibrant tone.

Assignment #4-Thinking Critically About Revisions

The final draft of your literacy narrative will be due on Monday, February 6. For this blog assignment, I want you to compare your final draft with your rough draft you brought in for peer review. In your blog post I want you to describe all of the following:

• How specifically does your final paper look different from your rough draft? 
• Did you make major revisions to the content, organization, focus, etc.? Why or why not?
• After revising your paper, are you able to identify your own pattern of error(for example, I know that as a writer I tend to be excessively wordy and am prone to comma splices)?
• What guided you to make the revisions you did? Was it peer review? Rereading your own paper? Other factors?
• What aspect of your essay do you think is the strongest? The weakest?

The purpose of this blog post is to get you as a writer to think critically about the revision process and how you can best apply that to your own writing. Just like with other parts of the writing process, there is no one right way; rather, you need to work to identify what works best for you. As you work on this paper and subsequent assignments, keep in mind the idea of "shitty first drafts." If you end up only using a small portion of your original draft that doesn't mean that draft was bad or that you made mistakes, but rather that the early draft was a "thinking draft" intended to help you develop your ideas.


The audience for this assignment is you as a writer, me, and your classmates. I want you to write about the revision process so you can learn more about yourself as a writer, I am interested in seeing how exactly you went about your revisions, and your classmates can benefit from learning about others' revision processes. 


*Note: Make sure you follow the directions for this blog assignment and address all the points above. Many of you are failing to fulfill all requirements of the blog posts, and that will negatively impact your grade.

Peer Review Video

We will be watching this video in class Wednesday, but I wanted to post a link here so you can re-watch it if you so desire.

MIT Peer Review Video

Assignment #3- "Good" Papers

As we begin working on our first major paper for this class, I want you think about what makes a "good" paper. What specifically are the differences between a C paper and an A paper? For this blog post, I want you to list and describe at least three specific qualities that separate an effective paper from a mediocre one and why those qualities make an essay more effective. For example:

• Sentence structure- One difference between an A paper and a C paper is sentence structure. An average paper may have mostly correct sentence structure but is repetitive and lacks variety, e.g. "I went to the grocery store. Jane went to the beach. Harold went shopping." In contrast, an A paper would contain sentences of different lengths and structures, e.g. "While I rushed to the grocery store, Jane meandered to the beach, and Harold went shopping." Stronger sentence structure make a paper more effective because it makes an essay more interesting to the reader.

After describing these qualities, I want you to briefly explain which you is easiest for you and which is most difficult. For example, "For me, writing with varied sentence structure is extremely difficult. When I force myself to break out my "subject-verb" pattern, I often make errors. Therefore, I find it much easier to just write simply and correctly, rather than pushing myself out of my comfort zone and making many mistakes."

To be successful at this assignment, it is key to be specific as possible and make sure to define your terms. If you state that effective organization is important, then you need to explain what exactly makes organization effective. Feel free to reference both the NEIU English department scoring rubric and the literacy narrative scoring rubric, but make sure you write in your own language and do not mimic those documents too closely.

Assignment #2- Generating Ideas

For your second blog entry, you will be reflecting on potential topics for your first graded essay, the literacy narrative. For this entry, I want you to briefly (in about one paragraph each) summarize three potential topics for your literacy narrative assignment. In addition, discuss in 1-3 sentences the potential pros and cons for each topic. For example:

• I may write about the final research paper I did for my Milton class. I wrote my paper about Paradise Lost and I argued that Milton actually portrayed Eve as a sympathetic character, not just some vain, stupid woman who caused the fall of all mankind. This paper was significant because while I had always been a proficient writer, it marked the first time that I really understood how to create and support an argument about a text.

• I think I could write an effective paper about this topic because it has such clear significance for me. Writing that paper helped spark my interest both in the study of literature and women's rights, two topics that continue to be important to me this day. By writing about something that I find interesting, I will be better able to make my essay interesting to my reader. However, I do think if I write about this topic I will need to make sure my essay conveys the future significance without losing focus on the narrative.

For help generating ideas for the assignment, refer to page 29 in your Norton Field Guide to Writing. Remember to consider the purpose, genre, and audience for your literacy narrative. Is your narrative intended to entertain your audience? To teach them? As we discussed in class, a narrative is a story, so consider what your audience will be expecting from your story. Who is your audience for this story? In what ways should you consider them? How might your narrative be different if you were writing to your family or friends as opposed to people who may not know you?

The purpose of this blog entry is both to personally explore potential topics for your essay and to share ideas with your classmates in order to help them develop ideas for their own essays. As your audience includes yourself, your classmates, and your instructor, make sure you include enough detail that outside readers will understand what you are trying to convey.

Welcome

Welcome to the English 101 blog. On this blog I will be posting blog assignments, interesting/useful (but not necessarily required) readings, notes on assignments, and other pertinent information, so check back at least once a week.

As stated on your blog assignment sheet, blog assignments will be posted by Monday the week they are due. All blog posts are due by midnight Friday. So for example, this post is due on Friday, January 13.

For your first assignment, I want to you to describe why you are taking English 101 and what you personally would like to gain from this class. If your answer is that you are taking this class because it is required, that is fine. However, I would like you to then explore the idea of why might NEIU requires students to take English 101 and whether it is a fair and useful requirement. 

The purpose of this assignment is for you to think critically, and express in writing, your goals for Writing I. The audience for this assignment is you as a writer developing your own ideas, as well as your classmates and instructor. Successful blog posts will reflect serious thought and introspection. Instead of focusing on generalities (e.g. I would like to learn to write well), try to be more specific, e.g. "I would like to learn to communicate clearly and efficiently as those skills are essential to be a successful business major", or "I have always enjoyed personal writing, and I would like to learn how to apply those skills in an academic setting."This post should be at least 250-300 words long.

Feel free to be creative as you like, as long as you are fulfilling the purpose of the assignment. Good luck, and enjoy!